To add a WhatsApp API channel:
1. Add a WhatsApp API channel in your personal Wazzup account.
2. Verify the company in Facebook Business Manager. You can skip this point if you already have a verified company on Facebook.
What you’ll need:
— Facebook account;
— registered company: LLC, IE, etc.;
— phone number without a WhatsApp account linked to it;
— scans of TIN or PSRN of your company;
— scans of documents with the company phone number and email address: utility bill, bank certificate, etc.
How long will it take: The verification period for a company is up to a month, but usually the answer from Facebook comes in a day or two. If Facebook is not satisfied with something, you will have to add/correct information and wait 1-2 days again.
After Facebook’s verification, the company will be verified by WhatsApp — 1-2 business days.
While the company is being checked, the channel will be in the “Not registered” status and it will be impossible to send messages or verify WhatsApp API templates from it.
Adding a WhatsApp API channel in Wazzup personal account
1. Go to channel settings in your Wazzup personal account.
2. Click the green “Add Channel” button → WhatsApp API.
3. Enter the name of the channel and click “Continue”. Clients will not see the channel name, it is needed for convenience.
4. Click “Add” → a new tab will open in the browser.
5. Tick the checkbox and press «Connect Facebook Business Account/Add WhatsApp number».
6. Log into Facebook.
7. Read the information and click «Get started».
8. Press «Continue».
9. Select a Facebook Business account or create a new one.
If you already have a Facebook Business account, select it, click Continue, and go to step 10.
If you don’t have a Facebook Business account or want to add another one, fill out the company information:
Registered company name. Enter as the company is recorded in the official documents (TIN, PSRN, charter).
Company phone number. Contact phone number of the company. Later you will be asked to upload supporting documents (certificate from the bank, bill for communication services, etc.) — the phone number in the documents must match the phone number specified in this item.
Company website. Add the website address. If you choose to validate the company with the site, you must first validate the site by placing a meta tag in the <head> section.
Company email address. Enter your working email address, preferably on the domain of your company’s website.
Press «Continue».
Country. Select the country of registration of your company from the list.
Exact company address. The legal address of your company (street, house number). Later you will be asked to upload supporting documents (bank statement, utility bill, etc.) — the address in the documents must match the address listed in this paragraph.
Exact company address 2 / locality. Enter the name of the settlement or leave the field blank.
City. Specify the city where the company is registered.
State/province/region. Enter as the region is recorded in the official documents (TIN, PSRN, charter).
Postal Code. Enter the index that is specified in the official documents (TIN, PSRN, charter).
Timezone. Choose a time zone. Facebook needs this for something, but there is still hope that you will not be spammed and disturbed by calls at night.
10. Enter the account name for WhatsApp Business. This information will not be seen by your customers. The name you enter will appear in your Facebook Business account.
Specify your time zone and click “Continue”.
11. Wait a moment and then click “Go to step 2”.
12. Enter a company name for your WhatsApp Business profile. This is the name customers will see in your WhatsApp profile in the app and in the chat window header.
The company name must meet WhatsApp’s rules for displayed names.
Click “Continue”.
13. Fill out your WhatsApp Business profile information and click “Go to step 3”.
Category. Your company’s field of activity. This field does not affect the verification of your account, it’s just information in your profile for your customers.
Business Description. Your company description in 512 characters.
14. Add a WhatsApp Business number.
Create or select a WhatsApp Business number. You can select the number you previously added as a company number, or you can add a new number.
Please note that the selected number must not have neither a regular personal WhatsApp account, nor a WhatsApp Business account. If the number has a WhatsApp or a WhatsApp Business account, you must delete it from the application on your phone: Android, iPhone or change the number for this account: Android, iPhone.
Deleting the account will entail:
— deleting the message history;
— removing you from all your WhatsApp groups;
— deleting the backup from Google Drive.
In case of changing WhatsApp phone number:
— all of your account information, including profile picture, name, individual and group chats, information and settings will be transferred from your old phone number to your new number;
— the WhatsApp account associated with your former phone number will be deleted. Your old number will no longer appear in your contacts’ WhatsApp contact lists.
Once you’ve added a phone number to WhatsApp Business, don’t add that number to the WhatsApp application on your phone!
If you add the WhatsApp API channel number to the app on your phone, the WhatsApp API channel will stop working!
Select a confirmation method. You will need to enter a 6-digit code to confirm the phone. You can get the code in a text message or by a call from the robot. SMS is better.
Click “Send code”.
15. Enter the code and press “Continue”.
16. Click “OK”.
The WhatsApp API channel will appear in the list of channels in your Wazzup personal account. Its status will be “Not registered”.
For the channel to become “Active” and to be able to send and receive messages from it, you need to verify the company in Facebook Business Manager.
If you already have a verified company in Facebook Business Manager, you have to wait 1-2 business days for the company and the displayed profile name to be verified by WhatsApp, after which the channel will go to the status “Active” or “Not Paid”.
Verifying company in Facebook Business Manager
Go to the “Security Center” section of Facebook Business Manager and click the “Start Confirmation” button.
1. Check your company information and click “Next”.
2. Select “None of these apply” from the list of companies that Facebook has found.
3. Confirm the legal name of the company. Select the language and upload a scan of one of the documents: business license (if any), TIN, PSRN. It would be better if you upload several documents.
4. Confirm the company address and phone number.
Upload a document with your company’s legal name, mailing address, or phone number that you entered:
— utility bill, such as electricity or telephone;
— a certificate from the bank showing the address;
— business license with the address or phone number of the company.
Click “Next”.
5. Select the method of verification:
— by phone. A robot will call and give a code to enter on the website. We didn’t get a call ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— by email. Enter your email address, preferably on the domain of your company’s website. A code will come via email, which you will need to enter on the site. The code came to the email within 3 minutes.
— domain validation of the site. The site is confirmed by placing a meta tag in the <head> section. It works this way too.
Done — you have sent the company for verification. Confirmation can take up to 3 weeks, but usually 2-3 days.
Every few days, go to the security center and check to see if the company has been confirmed or not. If your application was rejected, you can only find out about it in this section.
Fun fact. In the first edition of “The Divine Comedy”, sinners had to add a WhatsApp API channel and verify the company in Facebook Business Manager. In subsequent editions, Dante softened the infernal punishments and replaced them with torture by a storm, rotting in the sun and rain, boiling in a bloody river, etc.
